A Tale of Two Farmers — and then there’s Texas….

In a previous post, I compared the relative 1860 fortunes of two ancestral farmers in Indiana County, Pennsylvania – Edward Haney Ruffner and Robert Garrett Stephens. Their offspring, James and Hulda, respectively, married in 1870. On Thursday, I …

In a previous post, I compared the relative 1860 fortunes of two ancestral farmers in Indiana County, Pennsylvania – Edward Haney Ruffner and Robert Garrett Stephens.Their offspring, James and Hulda, respectively, married in 1870.On Thursday, I took a look at the 1870 agricultural schedules and the values were relatively unchanged. Ruffner still owned more property but Stephens valued his at a higher dollar figure. Stephens had more livestock and grew more wheat but Ruffner grew more oats, produced more butter and more wool. (1)

But a dramatic contrast is revealed when the lens moves south.On the Texas side of the family, our great grandmother, Cora Walling married into the Baker family in the early 1870s but was widowed within just a few years.Jack, and his older brother, Jesse, Cora’s future husband, were living in the same household in 1870, both farming land owned by Jack. (2) But the Bakers were more than just farmers.Isaac Baker, born in Alabama and the father of both Jack and Jesse, was one of the earliest settlers of what was later to be named Plantersville in Grimes County, Texas.He began building a 2,840 acre plantation named Cedars in 1843 and opened the first general store with his sons in the 1850s. (3) I decided to return to 1860 and gather data for the Bakers.

Here’s a portion of the previous 1860 table of agricultural values for our Pennsylvania ancestors, compared to the 1860 Texas agricultural schedule values for Isaac Baker, Isaac Baker, Jr. and Jack Baker combined, all of Grimes County, Texas. (4)

Look at all that ham and those sweet potatoes!

Agricultural Census Category

Robert G. Stephens

Edward H. Ruffner

The Bakers in Texas

Improved Acres

155

200

1,000

Unimproved Acres

125

96

1,400

Cash Value of Farm

$6,300

$1,000

$47,500

Value of Farming Implements and Machinery

$150

$50

$1,200

Horses

5

2

8

Asses and Mules

33

Milk Cows

5

2

Working Oxen

34

Other Cattle

5

1

96

Sheep

15

6

32

Swine

15

5

145

Value of Livestock

$595

$300

$5,705

Bushels of Indian Corn

150

50

13,200

Bales of Ginned Cotton

457

Lbs. Of Wool

55

8

215

Bushels of Irish Potatoes

140

30

25

Bushels of Sweet Potatoes

600

Value of Animals Slaughtered

$165

$42

$1,470

[I got some reader feedback that the pictures were wonderfull — this was the best I could do on this post!]